Coast Guard responding to oil sheen in Astoria, Oregon

Coast Guard personnel responded to an oil sheen caused by an unknown source near the Cannery Pier Hotel in Astoria, Ore., January 19, 2018. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

ASTORIA, Oregon – Coast Guard personnel are responding to an oil sheen caused by an unknown source near the Cannery Pier Hotel in Astoria, Friday.

Coast Guard Sector Columbia River dispatched personnel from the Incident Management Division in Astoria to respond to the spill at 8:30 a.m. after opening the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to contract Global Diving and Salvage for cleanup operations and to investigate the source of the sheen.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Columbia River initially received a call at 2 p.m., Thursday, reporting a small sheen near the hotel. Friday morning, a Port of Astoria security officer reported significant sheening at Piers 1 and 2 and then a third call from a private source reported sheening in Hammond.

Due to hazardous conditions on Thursday night, dive operations were deemed unsafe and were postponed until Friday morning. At noon on Friday, those operations were completed and the location of the discharge was not located.

The sheen in each of these areas has reportedly spread from a potential originating source located near the hotel and due to the tidal cycle, has been spread up and down the river for nearly five miles.

Containment boom was placed around the pier at the hotel and around the West End Mooring basin, where a Global Environmental team is conducting clean up of the sheen within the marina.

The IMD Astoria team responded to the report of sheening east of the Hammond Mooring Basin and will monitor the area until a response cleanup crew can arrive at the location.

“Sector Columbia River’s IMD personnel contracted the Global dive team to investigate a potential discharge point this morning with negative results,” said Coast Guard Lt. Berit Boyle, a member of IMD Astoria. “City of Astoria personnel are checking outfall points to determine if any oils are coming from those locations.”

The IMD team is in contact with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Port of Astoria.

“The source of the sheen is believed to have originated from the pier that used to serve the Union Fisherman Cooperative,” said Lt. Cmdr. Madjeska, Chief of IMD Astoria. “We’ve placed boom around locations with the greatest amount of sheen and are also taking oil samples to aid in the investigation.”

A flyover was completed at 12:15 p.m., which located the sheen east of the Astoria-Megler Bridge. Coast Guard personnel are also conducting a shoreline cleanup assessment to determine needs for that area.